"Hisaoooo." I wake up to being poked in the face. "Hisaoooo wake up, we're pulling in to Tokyo Station."

I groggily sit up, pulling my head off of Ikuno's shoulder.

"Sleep well?"

"Yeah I guess." I nod weakly. "I'm not used to getting up that early."

"5am isn't really that early." I give her a dead stare in response. "Okay, okay, I get it."

My brain starts to wake up as we pull into the station, Ikuno lightly drags me off the train and into the station.

"How long do we have?"

"Just 10 minutes."

"Great, enough time to get some coffee." I nod my head towards a small coffee shop. "It'll be my treat," I say with a wink.

"I'm not really a big coffee person, but it looks like they have hot chocolate." She points at the menu board.

"Should the diabetic really be having hot chocolate?" I give her a playful smirk.

She raises her eyebrows before returning my smirk. "Should the guy with the heart problem really be having coffee?"

"Well… I won't tell if you won't."

"Deal!" She gives me a thumbs up and winks… It's both adorable and dorky.

There's not much of a line at the coffee shop, so we quickly make our purchases and head to our next train. By the time we make it back to the platform our train to Iwata is ready for boarding. We board and sit in silence drinking our hot drinks; they feel so good this time of year. This time Ikuno leans her head on my shoulder.

"Tired after all?" I ask.

She doesn't answer, a pensive expression coloring her face.

"Diabetes isn't that bad y'know?"

"Huh?" Her sudden seriousness takes me off guard. "Why are you saying that all of a sudden?"

"As long as I keep track of what I'm having and bolus properly and stuff, I can pretty much have whatever I want, even hot chocolate." She turns her head to look up at me before continuing. "I know you were joking, but I don't want you to worry about me."

Bolus? Is that the thing with her pump?

"Well I can't help if I worry about you, I care about you."

"I care about you too, but I still don't want you to worry."

"I'll try not to. But it goes both ways!." She gives me a questioning look. "My bad heart doesn't mean I can't have any caffeine but I definitely shouldn't chug energy drinks."

"That's not good for anyone," she says wrinkling her nose. "I better not catch you drinking an energy drink ever."

"Haha don't worry, I don't have a death wish or anything."

"I don't even want to think about that." She says burying her face into my shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't joke like that. I really don't want to worry you, I won't do anything dumb, I promise."

"I'm holding you to that."

"Good, now just go to sleep." Would be a good way to clear up the mood anyways.

"Nooo I'm not tired." Jeez she can be such a kid, but she's too cute for me to complain about. "But you're so comfy and warm."

"Give in to the warmth, let it take you." I reach out and pet her head. Huh, feels like she's already asleep. Well I might as well enjoy this as much as I can. I peacefully relax and sip my coffee the rest of the way to Iwata.

—-

"Ikuno, wake up we're coming into Iwata." I nudge her using my shoulder. Slowly she comes to.

"We're here already?"

"Yeah you slept the whole time."

"It felt nice." She rubs her cheek on my shoulder. Seems like she's going to go back to sleep.

"You said some interesting things while you were sleeping you know."

Ikuno immediately snaps up and looks at me. "What kinds of things?"

I give her a sly smile, but can't keep up the charade. "Nothing actually, but you're awake now, right?"

She deflates at my words. "You're the worst." Looking at the window she then follows up, "Oh hey we are here."

"Did you think I was lying?"

"...Maybe." She give me an innocent smile. "Well be ready to get off, we have to catch the bus quickly."

"Got it," I say as I secure our bags. "Let's do this."

After the train pulls in, we make our way through the station and out to the nearby bus stop and hop on.

"Whew that was close."

"How long of a ride is it?"

"Hmm I think with the stops it's about 20 minutes."

"Well that's not too bad."

"Yeah it'll go by quick and I can point out some places on the way over."

The bus sets off quick, and just as quickly Ikuno starts pointing out key points in town. There are a lot of interesting speciality shops around, and from her knowledge of them she must frequent them. There's also a few tennis clubs in the area, which I find a bit odd. Maybe she and her family play since it's so accessible, though I didn't ask her..

"This is our stop," Ikuno says from my side. Immediately I start looking around to guess which hours is hers. "My house is a couple blocks from here, but this is the closest stop." She must have noticed me looking around.

"Oh okay, lead the way." I motion my arm out forward and Ikuno leads us off the bus and headed down the sidewalk.

One block down we make a right and Ikuno points out a friend's house. We continue on another block and she point out her house up ahead. It looks pretty big and rather fancy. Well not super fancy, but it looks nice.

We approach her house and Ikuno says, "Well this is it, are you ready?"

I shrug, attempting nonchalance. "Sure, I guess."

"Here we go." Ikuno gives me a mischievous grin before she knocks on the door a couple of times before opening it and stepping inside.

Once inside, we're greeted by a small figure. "Onee-chan!" That must be Ikuno's little sister. She's pretty short, I think Ikuno said she was only 9 or 10 so I guess that makes sense for her age.

"Chika!" Ikuno bends down and wraps her little sister in a hug. She stands back up and I get a closer look at Chika. She has the same brown hair as Ikuno and big eyes to match. Yup, she's absolutely adorable. "Chika, this is my boyfriend Hisao. Hisao, this is Chika."

Seemingly shy, Chika moves closer to Ikuno before saying "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too Chika-chan, you're so polite."

"Th-Thank you." She turns her head up to look at Ikuno. "Mom said to bring you to the kitchen for breakfast when you got here."

"Thanks Chika! Hisao, let's put our bags over here by the closet for now."

"Oh, okay." I pick up both our bags and move them over to in front of the closet door. I follow Ikuno back to the back of the house into the kitchen.

"Ah you must be Hisao!" I hear from a voice on the opposite end of the table. "I'm Ikuno's mother Korona Komaki."

I've been expecting this the whole time, but the sight of her mother instantly brings back my nerves. I bow and greet her. "Hello Mrs. Komaki, it is nice to meet you."

I hear her chuckle. "No need to bow, formalities like that are boring." Why does that remind me of Ikuno? She turns to Ikuno before saying, "I like him already."

"Hisao, you're such a dork."

What do I even say to that? I laugh nervously.

"Well I hate to break your fun silence," starts Mrs. Komaki, "but breakfast is ready." I look at the table and see she already has plates for everyone out. "Normally I eat with my husband but I figured today was a special occasion." She gives me a beaming smile. "Now let's sit and eat."

Without hesitation both Ikuno and Chika sit down and I follow quickly to not be awkwardly standing by myself. Everyone starts eating immediately and I do too. Mrs. Komaki prepared a nice light meal with eggs, rice and some miso. It's actually quite delicious.

"So how was the trip in?" I hear from across the table.

I glance at Ikuno and she speaks up immediately. "It was long and boring."

"Oh nothing happened?"

"Not really… although…" Ikuno gives me a sidelong glance. "Someone isn't used to getting up that early and slept almost all the way to Tokyo."

I can hear and see both of them laugh. Chika-chan is just looking on with curiosity. I should payback Ikuno for that.

"At least I didn't sleep from Tokyo to Iwata." I give Ikuno a teasing look she sticks her tongue out at me.

"Did you get tired, Ikuno?" questions her mom.

Immediately Ikuno starts to blush remembering what happened. "Well no…"

I decide to fill in the rest for her. "She leaned her head on my shoulder and said it was 'comfy'."

"Hisao!" Ikuno tried to scold me.

"Aw that's adorable, Ikuno-chan!" her mom calls out.

"Mooom!" Apparently Ikuno doesn't love being called Ikuno-chan. I can

I hear some laughter from my other side and turn to see Chika-chan happily laughing at her older sister and eating breakfast. What a good girl.

"Hisao, did anything else interesting happen on your trip?" Ikuno's mom stares directly at me as she says it. I can feel Ikuno's piercing gaze on the side of my face. It's not like anything really happened though.

"Not really ma'am, it was just a normal trip."

"Please don't call me ma'am," she says with a chuckle.

"Sorry." She doesn't really seem upset, but I'd rather be overly polite than not enough.

"It's fine, I just don't like feeling so old." She give me a soft smile. "Anything else happen on the way here?"

"Ikuno pointed out some spots around town while we were on the bus, that's probably the most eventful part of the trip."

"Well that does sound like a boring trip after all."

"Hey that's mean!" cries Ikuno.

Everyone else at the table shares a laugh at her expense. As the laughter dies down, I notice some photos on the wall across from me.

"Ikuno, are those pictures of you and Chika?" I nod toward the frames.

Ikuno follows my line of sight to the photos across from me. "Yeah they are! Wasn't I a cute kid?" She points at the top picture which shows a young Ikuno giving a huge grin—minus a couple teeth—really close to the camera.

"Yeah you really were." I pause for dramatic effect. "What happ—"

"What happened?" Mrs. Komaki cuts me off, stealing my line. She gives me a quick grin from across the table. That was on purpose!

"Hey! I'm still cute, right, Hisao?" Ikuno looks my way with her cheeks at about half puff. I see Mrs. Komaki out of the corner of my eye looking at me expectantly. Did she set this up?

"Yeah, of course. You got cuter actually!" I feel Mrs. Komaki's gaze as I say this, causing my cheeks to flush.

Ikuno's puffed cheeks turns to a smile. "See!" she says to her mother.

Her mom holds her hands up feigning defeat. "I guess you're right." She pauses before teasing her. "Maybe I should hang up some more recent pictures of you then." Hmm new pictures? Now there's an idea.

"That'd be embarrassing," chirps Ikuno almost immediately.

"But Ikuno-chan, Hisao says you're even cuter now!"

Mrs. Komaki and Chika both laugh as Ikuno and I turn into human tomatoes and turn our attention to our food. We finish up the rest of our meal with idle chatter and put dishes in the sink, Mrs. Komaki calls out to us.

"Do you two need to go anywhere? I have to run errands anyways and can drop you off somewhere."

"I still have some Christmas shopping to do," mutters Ikuno in thought.

"Me too." I think I already know what to get her Mom, but I'll have to shop for everyone else.

"Mom, can you drop us off at the mall? That'll probably be the easiest option for us."

"Sure thing," she says with a smile. "Are you both ready, I have to go soon."

"We should probably take our bags upstairs," I direct to Ikuno.

"Don't worry about that," Mrs. Komaki interjects, "you can take care of them afterwards."

I turn to Ikuno to get her thoughts and she just shrugs. "Alright, I guess we're ready."

"Oh by the way, would you guys mind taking Chika along? I don't want to leave her home alone, plus I'm sure she missed her big sister."

Please no. I think she's a nice polite girl and everything, but how am I supposed to interact with a kid? I've never really done it before and it just feels so awkward, especially since we just met and barely spoke to one another.

"That's okay, right, Hisao?" I turn to see Ikuno's face. She's giving me the puppy dog pout with sparkling eyes. I could never turn down a face like that. Her face is so cute it could probably stop traffic.

Dammit, she wins. "Of course that's fine, right, Chika-chan?" I turn to Chika who responds with a small but shy nod.

"Alright everyone, grab your jackets and head to the car."